Encryption discussions go here

Comments

Ok I admit I am totally clueless on this, and I am all for stopping piracy especially if I am paying for something that someone else is getting free...really bugs me. I render in Octane standalone which means exporting figure, hair, clothing etc as an .obj into Octane and applying texture there. Will I be able to continue to do so and be able to find textures? I do not use the DAZ plugin for Octane.

From what I have read elsewhere the textures are not encrypted, so external programs such as Octane will be able to read them normally. As the geometry is exported via Daz Studio it is taken from in-memory so, again, no encryption issues.

Loading a file into DS should be fine, loading a file as DSON data into the script would fail (I tried).

So certain types of productswill no longer be possible? This is a much more "tanglible" reason to object to the encyption which may explain why DAZ has not been clear on this point. And it sounds like PAs will not have a choice which suggests that DAZ does not think encrpytion/DRM can survive an actual test in the marketplace. DAZ has done a lot to dissuade our concerns but when it feels like they are avoiding or downplaying certain questions/concerns it is hard not to feel concerned. :(

it isn't necessarily certain types of products will no longer be possible (don't know about every case), but more of a certain types of products need to be built differently or use different methods. An example is the pose converter or pose builder by draagonstorm. We talked with her, and some other PAs earlier this year about the implications of this and how to work with and accomplish the same thing with relying on the api or different approaches, including potentially us adding new api calls for them if they need it to get specific data they needed. We absolutely want our PAs to be able to get the same versatility and functionality in the market. That doesn't mean that it will all be ready day 1 since there is their own schedules need to fit it in, but we work very closely with our PAs and they have direct ways to contact us to get what they need to build the products they want to.

I had hoped that with the development of the G3 figures that use a more industry standardised approach than in the past that this might mean greater compatibility with 3rd party programs but this will become increasingly more difficult with the introduction of encryption. I think this is a shame because elsewhere in the industry there is a move towards standardisation so that content can be edited between different apps. Encryption closes off this potential which I think is counterproductive towards sales and usability.

Our content can only really be used in 3rd party apps by exporting or us building plugins to handle the dson format. Going to industry standards is a great first step towards being able to use the content in other applications such as max or maya, and encryption doesn't hinder that. The two choices beyond that is building more limited versions of products that work natively to specific apps, or build plugins which can be built to handle the encryption transparently. Even though dson is an open format, the reality is only Daz owned apps can handle it and there has been no movement in others building in compatibility, which means if we feel it's important to get in other apps directly, we have to build the plugins to do so. So in practical terms, encryption of dson files has no impact on using our content in 3rd party non-daz owned apps. (I know, Carrara, but I can't say anything about that)

That sounds better, but it is one of the things you should have addressed from the beginning. Will the API updates, etc. needed be in 4.9 (so that the PAs can update whenever they want to)?

I don't know but something I can find out. It is something that requires some back and forth of the PAs who need it asking how to do something or working with the developers to determine what the best way to do something is, then identifying if they need additional API calls or can just leverage existing ones or approach solving the problem from a different direction all together that would be better. I know that some of those discussions started, but don't know where they ended up.

Loading a file into DS should be fine, loading a file as DSON data into the script would fail (I tried).

So certain types of productswill no longer be possible? This is a much more "tanglible" reason to object to the encyption which may explain why DAZ has not been clear on this point. And it sounds like PAs will not have a choice which suggests that DAZ does not think encrpytion/DRM can survive an actual test in the marketplace. DAZ has done a lot to dissuade our concerns but when it feels like they are avoiding or downplaying certain questions/concerns it is hard not to feel concerned. :(

it isn't necessarily certain types of products will no longer be possible (don't know about every case), but more of a certain types of products need to be built differently or use different methods. An example is the pose converter or pose builder by draagonstorm. We talked with her, and some other PAs earlier this year about the implications of this and how to work with and accomplish the same thing with relying on the api or different approaches, including potentially us adding new api calls for them if they need it to get specific data they needed. We absolutely want our PAs to be able to get the same versatility and functionality in the market. That doesn't mean that it will all be ready day 1 since there is their own schedules need to fit it in, but we work very closely with our PAs and they have direct ways to contact us to get what they need to build the products they want to.

I had hoped that with the development of the G3 figures that use a more industry standardised approach than in the past that this might mean greater compatibility with 3rd party programs but this will become increasingly more difficult with the introduction of encryption. I think this is a shame because elsewhere in the industry there is a move towards standardisation so that content can be edited between different apps. Encryption closes off this potential which I think is counterproductive towards sales and usability.

Our content can only really be used in 3rd party apps by exporting or us building plugins to handle the dson format. Going to industry standards is a great first step towards being able to use the content in other applications such as max or maya, and encryption doesn't hinder that. The two choices beyond that is building more limited versions of products that work natively to specific apps, or build plugins which can be built to handle the encryption transparently. Even though dson is an open format, the reality is only Daz owned apps can handle it and there has been no movement in others building in compatibility, which means if we feel it's important to get in other apps directly, we have to build the plugins to do so. So in practical terms, encryption of dson files has no impact on using our content in 3rd party non-daz owned apps. (I know, Carrara, but I can't say anything about that)

When there are plugins that allow such content transfer to 3rd party apps then that will be great and is long overdue. But encryption will probably no longer function once transfer has been made so I assume the incentive for such cross platform compatibilty has been further reduced with the introduction of encryption or perhaps a tier pricing structure such as Reallusion use might become necessary?

Loading a file into DS should be fine, loading a file as DSON data into the script would fail (I tried).

So certain types of productswill no longer be possible? This is a much more "tanglible" reason to object to the encyption which may explain why DAZ has not been clear on this point. And it sounds like PAs will not have a choice which suggests that DAZ does not think encrpytion/DRM can survive an actual test in the marketplace. DAZ has done a lot to dissuade our concerns but when it feels like they are avoiding or downplaying certain questions/concerns it is hard not to feel concerned. :(

it isn't necessarily certain types of products will no longer be possible (don't know about every case), but more of a certain types of products need to be built differently or use different methods. An example is the pose converter or pose builder by draagonstorm. We talked with her, and some other PAs earlier this year about the implications of this and how to work with and accomplish the same thing with relying on the api or different approaches, including potentially us adding new api calls for them if they need it to get specific data they needed. We absolutely want our PAs to be able to get the same versatility and functionality in the market. That doesn't mean that it will all be ready day 1 since there is their own schedules need to fit it in, but we work very closely with our PAs and they have direct ways to contact us to get what they need to build the products they want to.

I had hoped that with the development of the G3 figures that use a more industry standardised approach than in the past that this might mean greater compatibility with 3rd party programs but this will become increasingly more difficult with the introduction of encryption. I think this is a shame because elsewhere in the industry there is a move towards standardisation so that content can be edited between different apps. Encryption closes off this potential which I think is counterproductive towards sales and usability.

Our content can only really be used in 3rd party apps by exporting or us building plugins to handle the dson format. Going to industry standards is a great first step towards being able to use the content in other applications such as max or maya, and encryption doesn't hinder that. The two choices beyond that is building more limited versions of products that work natively to specific apps, or build plugins which can be built to handle the encryption transparently. Even though dson is an open format, the reality is only Daz owned apps can handle it and there has been no movement in others building in compatibility, which means if we feel it's important to get in other apps directly, we have to build the plugins to do so. So in practical terms, encryption of dson files has no impact on using our content in 3rd party non-daz owned apps. (I know, Carrara, but I can't say anything about that)

and that is the big issue I as primarily a Carrara user have with the whole thing

Loading a file into DS should be fine, loading a file as DSON data into the script would fail (I tried).

So certain types of productswill no longer be possible? This is a much more "tanglible" reason to object to the encyption which may explain why DAZ has not been clear on this point. And it sounds like PAs will not have a choice which suggests that DAZ does not think encrpytion/DRM can survive an actual test in the marketplace. DAZ has done a lot to dissuade our concerns but when it feels like they are avoiding or downplaying certain questions/concerns it is hard not to feel concerned. :(

it isn't necessarily certain types of products will no longer be possible (don't know about every case), but more of a certain types of products need to be built differently or use different methods. An example is the pose converter or pose builder by draagonstorm. We talked with her, and some other PAs earlier this year about the implications of this and how to work with and accomplish the same thing with relying on the api or different approaches, including potentially us adding new api calls for them if they need it to get specific data they needed. We absolutely want our PAs to be able to get the same versatility and functionality in the market. That doesn't mean that it will all be ready day 1 since there is their own schedules need to fit it in, but we work very closely with our PAs and they have direct ways to contact us to get what they need to build the products they want to.

I had hoped that with the development of the G3 figures that use a more industry standardised approach than in the past that this might mean greater compatibility with 3rd party programs but this will become increasingly more difficult with the introduction of encryption. I think this is a shame because elsewhere in the industry there is a move towards standardisation so that content can be edited between different apps. Encryption closes off this potential which I think is counterproductive towards sales and usability.

Our content can only really be used in 3rd party apps by exporting or us building plugins to handle the dson format. Going to industry standards is a great first step towards being able to use the content in other applications such as max or maya, and encryption doesn't hinder that. The two choices beyond that is building more limited versions of products that work natively to specific apps, or build plugins which can be built to handle the encryption transparently. Even though dson is an open format, the reality is only Daz owned apps can handle it and there has been no movement in others building in compatibility, which means if we feel it's important to get in other apps directly, we have to build the plugins to do so. So in practical terms, encryption of dson files has no impact on using our content in 3rd party non-daz owned apps. (I know, Carrara, but I can't say anything about that)

When there are plugins that allow such content transfer to 3rd party apps then that will be great and is long overdue. But encryption will probably no longer function once transfer has been made so I assume the incentive for such cross platform compatibilty has been further reduced with the introduction of encryption or perhaps a tier pricing structure such as Reallusion use might become necessary?

Remember that the exporters are not affected by encryption - DS can write to FBX, OBJ, Alembic (with the exporter) etc. just as now in 4.8. Encryption is protecting the native DSON data, not any approximations or subsets in other formats.

So in practical terms, encryption of dson files has no impact on using our content in 3rd party non-daz owned apps. (I know, Carrara, but I can't say anything about that)

Why can't you say anything about Carrara?

Unless Carrara is updated to accommodate encryption, new Daz Connect only products will be unavailable for our use.

Do we Carrara customers not deserve any information regarding our future?

I literally can't say anything about Carrara because I don't interact with the devs for Carrara at all and am not privy to any discussions or plans around it.

Thanks for replying.

But... I'm surprised that your business is so compartmentalized that you would have (or can obtain) absolutely no information about another one of your products. Apparently no Daz employee who knows anything about Carrara ever visits the forums, since this is the answer we always receive. We Carrara customers have been led to believe the worst by such actions (or inaction). It's really disappointing.

By the way, I've been a Carrara user since long before Daz owned it, so I'm quite invested in it's continuation.

So in practical terms, encryption of dson files has no impact on using our content in 3rd party non-daz owned apps. (I know, Carrara, but I can't say anything about that)

Why can't you say anything about Carrara?

Unless Carrara is updated to accommodate encryption, new Daz Connect only products will be unavailable for our use.

Do we Carrara customers not deserve any information regarding our future?

I literally can't say anything about Carrara because I don't interact with the devs for Carrara at all and am not privy to any discussions or plans around it.

That's disappointing.

I mentioned in another thread that the lack of updates or any sort of comment that anything was even being worked on was scaring people away from Carrara, and I got told something along the lines of not to assume anything. Then seeing your intial comment made me think that there was something going on, just that it couldn't be announced yet. Although that sort of sealed lip thing usually means cross company things like sales and acquisitions, which I don't think? is what we want. I want to grab Carrara, but it's so troubling that there is no one anywhere to even say "hey we are still working on this program, we just can't give any details yet."

Jon isn't in a position to make "promises" on behalf of the Software Dev team. Jon [and "Rawb"—also known as "other Rob"] are Web Dev guys. The technical side of Daz Connect (i.e. figuring out how it will work, and then making it work) is a joint effort between the Web Dev and Software Dev teams, at the behest of executive management. The policy side of Daz Connect (i.e. deciding whether it exists at all, and when/what it is applied to) is up to Marketing and executive management.

Is Genesis 3 support being worked on for Carrara? Yes, it is. Will I give you a date on when a build that has Genesis 3 support is going to be publicly available? Sorry, I will not—not yet anyway.

I will say that support for dual quaternion skinning (a prerequisite for Genesis 3 support, and quite useful in its own right) has been implemented and has been with the Private Build testers for several weeks now. Feedback on the feature(s) thus far has been positive. I will also say that earlier this month the Private Build testers were asked what they thought about releasing a build with the dual quaternion skinning support. The responses we got basically boiled down to it not being enough to make much of a difference in the current climate. We [reluctantly] agree, and so decided to hold the feature until Genesis 3 support could be implemented.

And on that note, recently the Private Build testers were given a build that provides their first look at Genesis 3 support. Initial reactions have been positive, however there are a few things that we knew were not working correctly before we gave them the build. We are looking for [and getting] feedback from that team to help us suss out where the other problems are.

As for the question of Daz Connect support in Carrara... It is still a bit too early to commit. I know that is probably not what you want to read/hear, but that is all I can really say about it right now. There are still some things to be ironed out, and dealing with those things in two very complex applications at the same time—particularly with a team that runs on the lean side anyway—would be very unwise. Daz Studio is the proving grounds for Daz Connect integration.

Jon isn't in a position to make "promises" on behalf of the Software Dev team. Jon [and "Rawb"—also known as "other Rob"] are Web Dev guys. The technical side of Daz Connect (i.e. figuring out how it will work, and then making it work) is a joint effort between the Web Dev and Software Dev teams, at the behest of executive management. The policy side of Daz Connect (i.e. deciding whether it exists at all, and when/what it is applied to) is up to Marketing and executive management.

Is Genesis 3 support being worked on for Carrara? Yes, it is. Will I give you a date on when a build that has Genesis 3 support is going to be publicly available? Sorry, I will not—not yet anyway.

I will say that support for dual quaternion skinning (a prerequisite for Genesis 3 support, and quite useful in its own right) has been implemented and has been with the Private Build testers for several weeks now. Feedback on the feature(s) thus far has been positive. I will also say that earlier this month the Private Build testers were asked what they thought about releasing a build with the dual quaternion skinning support. The responses we got basically boiled down to it not being enough to make much of a difference in the current climate. We [reluctantly] agree, and so decided to hold the feature until Genesis 3 support could be implemented.

And on that note, recently the Private Build testers were given a build that provides their first look at Genesis 3 support. Initial reactions have been positive, however there are a few things that we knew were not working correctly before we gave them the build. We are looking for [and getting] feedback from that team to help us suss out where the other problems are.

As for the question of Daz Connect support in Carrara... It is still a bit too early to commit. I know that is probably not what you want to read/hear, but that is all I can really say about it right now. There are still some things to be ironed out, and dealing with those things in two very complex applications at the same time—particularly with a team that runs on the lean side anyway—would be very unwise. Daz Studio is the proving grounds for Daz Connect integration.

-Rob

Thank you! I don't know if this will be enough for anyone else, but honestly after seeing absolute silence after anyone ever tried to ask about Carrara still being alive, the idea of going near it seemed very daunting, even though customers also say it's a very good program. I can only speak for myself here, but I don't care about the details of release dates (maybe because I'm used to companies not being able to do so) just being reassured that there is actually a dev team in existence and they are actively doing something to continue support. I know some might not like broad answers, but replies like this one mean a lot to me as a customer, at least.

Jon isn't in a position to make "promises" on behalf of the Software Dev team. Jon [and "Rawb"—also known as "other Rob"] are Web Dev guys. The technical side of Daz Connect (i.e. figuring out how it will work, and then making it work) is a joint effort between the Web Dev and Software Dev teams, at the behest of executive management. The policy side of Daz Connect (i.e. deciding whether it exists at all, and when/what it is applied to) is up to Marketing and executive management.

Is Genesis 3 support being worked on for Carrara? Yes, it is. Will I give you a date on when a build that has Genesis 3 support is going to be publicly available? Sorry, I will not—not yet anyway.

I will say that support for dual quaternion skinning (a prerequisite for Genesis 3 support, and quite useful in its own right) has been implemented and has been with the Private Build testers for several weeks now. Feedback on the feature(s) thus far has been positive. I will also say that earlier this month the Private Build testers were asked what they thought about releasing a build with the dual quaternion skinning support. The responses we got basically boiled down to it not being enough to make much of a difference in the current climate. We [reluctantly] agree, and so decided to hold the feature until Genesis 3 support could be implemented.

And on that note, recently the Private Build testers were given a build that provides their first look at Genesis 3 support. Initial reactions have been positive, however there are a few things that we knew were not working correctly before we gave them the build. We are looking for [and getting] feedback from that team to help us suss out where the other problems are.

As for the question of Daz Connect support in Carrara... It is still a bit too early to commit. I know that is probably not what you want to read/hear, but that is all I can really say about it right now. There are still some things to be ironed out, and dealing with those things in two very complex applications at the same time—particularly with a team that runs on the lean side anyway—would be very unwise. Daz Studio is the proving grounds for Daz Connect integration.

-Rob

Thanks.

From the context of your reply I will assume that you are a Daz employee even though your forum name is not "DAZ_something". I had assumed that all official Daz personnel used the DAZ_something format. I guess not. As a customer, I find it difficult to determine who's who at this zoo. Seldom does anyone say "I work for Daz as a ______", before answering a question.

From what you say, it sounds like Carrara is indeed still being developed. I was not aware that there was a current closed beta in progress. Knowing that Genesis 3 support is being worked on tells me that Carrara is still relevant, and to stay relevant a method to use encrypted content will eventually have to be added. Since there is no "Daz Connect only" content in the store, this compatibility isn't needed yet. So that's fine for now.

The continuous cone of silence surrounding Carrara is what has us users perturbed. Thanks for the info.

Thankyou from me too for the feedback that Genesis 3 integration in Carrara is being worked on, it has been the general feeling that Carrara is no longer considered worth supporting with DAZ content and some of us at least love our content, my DIM has hit 5K now, I cannot speak for all Carrara users but know a few of use who do indeed buy content from DAZ if it works.

3, The files in that web thing, are not only encrypted, they are using DRM. If anything got corrupted or changed anywhere during the download and install process, anywhere, even just a single flipped bit off in the Drop Bit Bucket, The DRM will prevent those files from ever working again. A CPU vin-number change from a CPU upgrade, BIOS update to the Motherboard, etc, will also do this. Redoing the DRM authentication process may possibly fix that, tho some times it still takes a wing and a prayer to fix it.

Honestly, I think it is 1 or 2, that is giving some of you grief. Auto-Fit is looking for the 'Fit Clone' files some where else from where they are actually located. It may be a fit clone from a third party product, like V4 for G2F for example, it may not be the 'Starter essentials'.

3, The files in that web thing, are not only encrypted, they are using DRM. If anything got corrupted or changed anywhere during the download and install process, anywhere, even just a single flipped bit off in the Drop Bit Bucket, The DRM will prevent those files from ever working again. A CPU vin-number change from a CPU upgrade, BIOS update to the Motherboard, etc, will also do this. Redoing the DRM authentication process may possibly fix that, tho some times it still takes a wing and a prayer to fix it.

Honestly, I think it is 1 or 2, that is giving some of you grief. Auto-Fit is looking for the 'Fit Clone' files some where else from where they are actually located. It may be a fit clone from a third party product, like V4 for G2F for example, it may not be the 'Starter essentials'.

...

The DRM is the encryption - the decryption key is linked to a hardware key, as long as that is good (at worst requiring a reconnection to the store, we don't know what changes will invalidate the key) the files will decrypt and be usable.

Jon isn't in a position to make "promises" on behalf of the Software Dev team. Jon [and "Rawb"—also known as "other Rob"] are Web Dev guys. The technical side of Daz Connect (i.e. figuring out how it will work, and then making it work) is a joint effort between the Web Dev and Software Dev teams, at the behest of executive management. The policy side of Daz Connect (i.e. deciding whether it exists at all, and when/what it is applied to) is up to Marketing and executive management.

Is Genesis 3 support being worked on for Carrara? Yes, it is. Will I give you a date on when a build that has Genesis 3 support is going to be publicly available? Sorry, I will not—not yet anyway.

I will say that support for dual quaternion skinning (a prerequisite for Genesis 3 support, and quite useful in its own right) has been implemented and has been with the Private Build testers for several weeks now. Feedback on the feature(s) thus far has been positive. I will also say that earlier this month the Private Build testers were asked what they thought about releasing a build with the dual quaternion skinning support. The responses we got basically boiled down to it not being enough to make much of a difference in the current climate. We [reluctantly] agree, and so decided to hold the feature until Genesis 3 support could be implemented.

And on that note, recently the Private Build testers were given a build that provides their first look at Genesis 3 support. Initial reactions have been positive, however there are a few things that we knew were not working correctly before we gave them the build. We are looking for [and getting] feedback from that team to help us suss out where the other problems are.

As for the question of Daz Connect support in Carrara... It is still a bit too early to commit. I know that is probably not what you want to read/hear, but that is all I can really say about it right now. There are still some things to be ironed out, and dealing with those things in two very complex applications at the same time—particularly with a team that runs on the lean side anyway—would be very unwise. Daz Studio is the proving grounds for Daz Connect integration.

-Rob

Rob - Thank You for letting us know that Carrara WILL be getting Genesis 3 support!!

I like Genesis 3, and have bought a some G3F content for use in studio, but not as much as I might have had I known that Genesis 3 was going to be supported in Carrara. Instead, I've tried to focus my purchases on Genesis 2 content (which did mean I spent $$$ elsewhere, because I would rather get Items I can use in Carrara). This is great news, now I wish I had purchased several G3F sale items I had passed on I also wish I had the time back that I had spent looking for viable Carrara alternatives, because due to the continued silence from DAZ 3D, I honestly thought Carrara development was dead and it was time to move on.

THANKS AGAIN!!

As for encription, I'm not a big fan, but fully understand why you may want to move in this direction. Just keep in mind that this typically WILL cause users some grief, as well as an extra load on customer service (this opinion is based on my experiences from being in the computer/IT industry for 30+ years). My own opinion, if I find DRM/encription to cause negative experiences, I will probably look for equivalant products else where, mainly because I resent being treated like a potential criminal due to the acts of others, and in any computer there are already many "frustrating" issues to deal with, without adding yet another layer of potentential frustration.

Is that "we" speaking as an ordinary D|S user, or an official DAZ reply?

I would take that as a collective "we users" - if I were a betting man, I'd say that swapping out the CPU or the boot disk would be the most likely to invalidate the key; the serial numbers of both are easy to get and usually when one changes the other does also. Of course they could have gone with both and set things up so that changing out only one would not invalidate the key. Or they could be using something else but most other values are much more dynamic.

Is that "we" speaking as an ordinary D|S user, or an official DAZ reply?

I would take that as a collective "we users" - if I were a betting man, I'd say that swapping out the CPU or the boot disk would be the most likely to invalidate the key; the serial numbers of both are easy to get and usually when one changes the other does also. Of course they could have gone with both and set things up so that changing out only one would not invalidate the key. Or they could be using something else but most other values are much more dynamic.

Yes, that's "we" as in the end users who don't know the details of the implementation.

Is that "we" speaking as an ordinary D|S user, or an official DAZ reply?

I would take that as a collective "we users" - if I were a betting man, I'd say that swapping out the CPU or the boot disk would be the most likely to invalidate the key; the serial numbers of both are easy to get and usually when one changes the other does also. Of course they could have gone with both and set things up so that changing out only one would not invalidate the key. Or they could be using something else but most other values are much more dynamic.

Yes, that's "we" as in the end users who don't know the details of the implementation.

The details of what defines a new "machine" are private and could change from release to release.

During the private beta phase however we needed to test that it would properly notify users that their stored key was invalid and they needed to login again but nobody had it trigger automatically. We had to switch up some of the machine detection system to force it to happen so it could be tested.

I like the web store. I visit it regularly and spend money there. I don't want to buy things inside the program. I see this in free apps on Android and it is annoying to me to the point of me uninstalling it. This Daz connect is leaving a bad taste in my mouth. I don't mind DRM for the charaters,clothing and props but don't DRM the base figures I can get characters,clothes and props somewhere else but not the base figures. I don't share files, but I do like to move files around. I also use Studio on more than one computer (Laptop) in my home. I also like to alter things to my hearts content. I purchased the Pro version of Daz studio when it first came out because I like to have the power to alter the things I purchase. Is there any chance that you can sell me a version of Daz Studio Pro without Connect: maybe something like Poser Pro Game Dev (I purchased this) with 5 gigs of royalty free content. I will pay for this. Heck, sell me a usb dongle, for a long time anytime I needed to use Lightwave I had to plug in my usb dongle to get full use of the program. Lightwave was installed on both my laptop and my desktop and usb dongle made it work. Finally Lightwave saw the light and dropped the dongle but it could work for you. I only need the base models to be open. I can purchase clothing, character and other items at other sites and the Daz Install Manager is working fine for me, just don't lock out being able to make things smart content by us users. My favorite purchases from other sites get added to smart content via the content manager inside studio and It works just fine. My hope is that the new Poser Pro doesn't get infected with DRM. If Poser Pro goes DRM too, I'm seriously going to start using Lightwave 2015 again and rendering with Otoy Octane with all my old content.